Zac Taylor and the Cincinnati Bengals have much to do in the 2020 offseason if the team is to rebound from its two-win performance.
Taylor, in tandem with the front office, needs to address several notable contract situations, balance the cap space, use free agency and the draft as a means to improve and simply do it all well.
Here’s a sketch of a map the Bengals should follow.
Extend Joe Mixon
Just do it.
Look, extending running backs with big-money deals is one of the more polarizing things a team can do now. But this the Bengals, a team that usually takes care of its own anyway and this is the Bengals, a team that always seems to have droves of cap space.
Mixon will be 24 over the summer and it’s clear he’s one of the critical leaders in the locker room. He also happens to be one of the NFL’s best.
Will the Bengals regret a huge extension a few years down the line? Probably. But right now, why risk a holdout with the team’s best offensive weapon before drafting a passer at No. 1?
Extend others
Why stop with Mixon? Solidify this nucleus Taylor wants to build around now.
William Jackson has had his share of problems at times, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to wrap him up. And though he’s struggled with injuries, getting Carl Lawson extended before he potentially erupts and his price gets higher might not be a bad idea.
And this won’t be popular — but do the same thing with John Ross. His asking price isn’t that high right now. On the off chance he puts up bonkers numbers with an accurate deep passer of a rookie, why not wrap him up too?
Bring back A.J. Green
Again, Cincinnati’s big thing is retaining its own. No reason to avoid paying up or tagging A.J. Green to see if he can put up a healthy season.
If Tyler Eifert played all 16 games last year, why can’t Green have similar luck?
Paying up for the aging Green is probably the riskiest item on the list. But it doesn’t make sense to let a guy who can still be a top 15 wideout in this league walk right as the team intends to take a rookie quarterback.
Get picky with the other free agents
The other Bengals free agents aren’t nearly as dramatic.
Darqueze Dennard, for example, could walk and the Bengals could comfortably give Darius Phillips a bigger role. Tyler Eifert, despite the fact he played 16 games last year, didn’t hit even 50 percent of the offensive snaps — time to show us why you drafted Drew Sample in the second round.
Now, Andrew Billings is worth having back in the heart of the defense. So probably is LaRoy Reynolds, a special-teams ace who came over and seemed to improve right away.
Trade Andy Dalton
It’s no secret Andy Dalton has to go. Any national perspective suggesting he could stay as a mentor is just blowing smoke at this point.
Dalton got with his reps and talked about a trade right after the Bengals benched him. He still wants to start in this league and those in charge have made it clear they’ll do right by him.
That means shipping him to a contender like Chicago, for example. It probably won’t net a notable return asset-wise, but it’s important to get his cap hit off the books.
Free up some more cap
No need to stop at Dalton’s cap hit.
While Dalton is first on the 2020 cap hit list for the Bengals, Dre Kirkpatrick is two spots down the list. While Kirkpatrick isn’t nearly as bad as a vocal portion of the fanbase would seem to suggest he is — and it’s clear he’s an important culture-setting leader in the locker room — he’s also not a $10-million plus player.
A restructure, at least, would make sense. So would shedding Cordy Glenn’s $9.5 million cap hit. Bobby Hart, B.W. Webb and Billy Price are all guys with cap hits north of $3 million next year too — just saying.
Actually use free agency
A stunning concept, yes.
This doesn’t mean bring on another feel-good story like Preston Brown, who was a local guy but clearly not a fit for today’s game. He ended up cut in the middle of last season. It doesn’t mean throw questionable extensions at guys like Bobby Hart.
It means go after a veteran linebacker who can actually boost the unit, like a Corey Littleton. It means pay up for a starting-caliber offensive lineman, perhaps moreso than they did with John Miller.
This isn’t saying break the bank. But the traditional strategy in Cincinnati has been to draft and retain while ignoring free agency. When the drafting is poor and the retention is spotty though, actually spending in free agency to complement the struggling process is a must.
Anything else contributes heavily to a two-win season.
Smart drafting prioritizing LB
Germaine Pratt was a start.
Even then, it felt like the Bengals never really took linebacker seriously during the latter years in Marvin Lewis’ tenure. That continues to show up on the field and the massive struggles against tight ends for years and years is proof enough.
That has to change. While the Bengals should draft any linebacker over a better potential value in the second round…the need is that important at this point.
If — and this is a pretty big if — the team gets some of their own guys back elsewhere and smartly uses free agency, that leaves premium draft picks for the Bengals to address a consistently miserable unit.
Draft Joe Burrow
What, think we’d forget?
Joe Burrow is the easiest part of this plan. The Heisman Trophy-winning passer just posted one of the best quarterback seasons in history and has immense pro potential.
Even better, Burrow is a local kid, so the storyline that is his coming home to save a franchise is amazing for a Bengals team mightily struggling with fan engagement and attendance.
Burrow technically isn’t the first destination on the map, but he’s the most important one and the destination fans along for the ride will remember the most.
